The Cook Smart Eat Smart Cooking School will teach you how to prepare simple, healthy, and delicious food for you and your family. Each session contains several basic cooking techniques and other topics related to eating and preparing meals at home. You will learn tips for stretching your food dollar while still eating healthy. The cost to attend the program is $30.00. The program is designed for older teens and adults.

The Cook Smart Eat Smart Cooking School will teach you how to prepare simple, healthy, and delicious food for you and your family. Each session contains several basic cooking techniques and other topics related to eating and preparing meals at home. You will learn tips for stretching your food dollar while still eating healthy. The cost to attend the program is $30.00. The program is designed for older teens and adults.

The Cook Smart Eat Smart Cooking School will teach you how to prepare simple, healthy, and delicious food for you and your family. Each session contains several basic cooking techniques and other topics related to eating and preparing meals at home. You will learn tips for stretching your food dollar while still eating healthy. The cost to attend the program is $30.00. The program is designed for older teens and adults.

The Cook Smart Eat Smart Cooking School will teach you how to prepare simple, healthy, and delicious food for you and your family. Each session contains several basic cooking techniques and other topics related to eating and preparing meals at home. You will learn tips for stretching your food dollar while still eating healthy. The cost to attend the program is $30.00. The program is designed for older teens and adults.

Agriculture is by far the mainstay in Edgecombe County. Edgecombe County has approximately 150,000 acres of cropland. This cropland is broken down into 1231 farms with 346 producers and 5,683 owners. The major crops in the county are cotton, soybeans, corn, wheat, peanuts, tobacco, sweet potatoes, clary sage and various other vegetable crops.

Although commodity crops are the biggest part of our agriculture community, livestock also plays a major role. The county has several pork, poultry, and beef producers.

The producers and owners in Edgecombe County are sensitive to the environmental needs of the cropland in the county. They have enrolled over 500 conservation contracts in various conservation programs which benefit, not only the land, but also water and air quality, wildlife habitat, soil and wind erosion. Edgecombe County has established an Agricultural Development Plan and administers a Voluntary and Enhanced Voluntary Agricultural District program.

Though the loss of federal support in key agricultural commodities such as peanuts and tobacco, has affected farm management, it remains the centerpiece of our economy and new opportunities for growth are on the horizon. Clary sage has become an important crop for some growers in the county and sweet potato production has expanded to more farming operations.

Agriculture and agribusiness-food, natural fiber, and forests account for 15.4% of Edgecombe County’s employment and 19.7% of the County’s total income. This is true even though the number of farmers in Edgecombe County have declined to 272. In contrast there were 757 farmers in 1978. However, it must be remembered there are still over 5,683 farmland owners in Edgecombe County and 1,231 actual farms. While the number of farmers has decreased, the actual farm income has continued to increase over the past two decades. In 2015 there was a total agricultural income of $155 Million. In 1993 that figure was 90.2 Million. Currently Edgecombe County ranks 24 out of 100 counties in agricultural income.

There has been tremendous change in the agricultural landscape of Edgecombe County because of the loss of peanut allotments in 2002 and tobacco allotments in 2005. This transition has cost Edgecombe County about $30 Million in taxable assets (approximately $250,000 in actual tax revenue). On the tobacco farmer’s side, they have lost $20 Million in tobacco income since 1997 while tobacco quota owners have lost $45 Million in “real” assets with the disappearance of their quota. The tobacco program buyout resulted in over $100 million in payments to Edgecombe farmers and landowners with the program ending in 2015. In spite of all this change, it is expected that Edgecombe County will remain one of the most viable producers of food and fiber in North Carolina. To aid in this transition, the trend toward animal agriculture in Edgecombe County will continue largely in poultry production; taking its share of the farm income from less than 10% sixty years ago to 39% now.

NC State University and N.C. A&T State University work in tandem, along with federal, state and local governments, to form a strategic partnership called N.C. Cooperative Extension, which staffs local offices in all 100 counties and with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

NC State University and N.C. A&T State University are collectively committed to positive action to secure equal opportunity and prohibit discrimination and harassment regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, political beliefs, family and marital status, sex, age, veteran status, sexual identity, sexual orientation, genetic information, or disability.